Kendall Hazel | Sports Blogger

It’s time to talk about something important to me: me.

This baseball season has been amazing. We have played so many great games, and we have been so fortunate to win 31 games in the regular season.

We got to witness Neil Marshall become one of the best players the IIAC has ever seen. The dude is incredibly talented, and it has been a privilege to watch him compete.

We got to see Mike Zellar hit his first career home-run against Simpson this last weekend. I have never seen a team so excited for another teammate. As a senior on this team, that melted my heart (I am a softie).

We got to see Kendall Candor go from bullpen catcher to starting DH. What a story.

We got to see Justin Lange have another great regular season, starting the first game of every series for us this year. He has been our cornerstone.

We got to see Wes Onken and Dalton Mason pitch lights out all year long. Those two have to be up there for best set-up/closer combo in the country.

We got to see Charlie Ruff work his ass off day in and day out and become a great relief pitcher.

For me, I got to watch two of my best friends and two of the greatest guys I know, Tanner Truesdell and Tyson Valentine, have amazing success all year. Tyson killed it as a relief pitcher, but then got an opportunity to start against Coe. After throwing a complete game, he decided to throw another complete game against Coe and then another complete game against Luther. He has been awesome this year.
And Tanner? I can’t say enough about Tanner. Tanner works tirelessly in the weight room, and he has some serious talent swinging a bat. He has been my main support on the team for four years now, and to see him have so much success makes me so proud to claim him as my best friend.

I could say a little something about every single guy on the team. You are all awesome players, teammates, and friends. But like I said, this is about me.

This year has been incredible, and we are on the verge of the conference tournament. But this year has also been really tough for me.

In the fall during our second to last scrimmage, I felt a twinge of pain in my left elbow during my warm-up catch. I chose to ignore it because it only lasted a couple seconds. I ended up pitching in the scrimmage and threw really well. After I was finished, I got my “post-pitching” work with a trainer. That is when I felt some pain in my elbow—a pitcher’s nightmare. Coach Sonka shut me down for remainder of the season.

Roughly two months later, I tried throwing again. It didn’t take long for that same pain to rush down my elbow and into my fingers. It hurt. I went straight to the athletic training room. It all happened so fast. Next thing I knew, I was in a brace, talking with an orthopedic surgeon, and doing rehab. I had never been injured before, and this terrified me. I had a slight tear in my UCL.

I jumped to conclusions immediately. I thought I would need surgery. I thought I’d miss my entire senior season. I thought I was going to have to play catch with my future kids right-handed. I was so scared. But I was lucky. Rehab seemed to really help (thank you, Lisa Bengtson), and I was throwing again just three weeks prior to the season. I was going to be able to play.

Come time for our first game, I was the first relief pitcher of the year, coming in for Justin who had just pitched an outstanding game against Webster. I couldn’t believe how much had happened, yet there I was in the first game of the year.

But since then, it hasn’t been amazing. My command has sucked at times, and hitting batters became a frequent occurrence. I’ve walked quite a few batters over my appearances. It has been really frustrating, because I know I am capable of so much more.

But you know what? I have not given up. Because baseball is life. Baseball can be horrible. Baseball can rip your heart out. Baseball can really suck—just like life. But baseball can also be really good—just like life.

This season has not been the greatest for me when I look at my own performance. But this season has been the greatest for me when I look at how I have grown as a person. Being a captain and senior on this baseball team has been an absolute blessing. From freshmen year until now, I have learned so much about myself, and I owe a lot of it to baseball.

I have faced so much adversity with my injury, but I can’t deny that I have grown to appreciate my previous years of healthy seasons. I have been so blessed to be able to compete for so long, and despite this injury, I was still able to play this season. I have been so humbled by all of this.

I have also learned how important it is to focus on lessons and not wins. Winning is important. I love to do it. But, we have also lost this year. It’s the reactions to losses that have defined me and the rest of this team. We lost a tough game to Simpson this last weekend. We blew a big lead, and lost on a walk-off. It sucked. But no one backed down. We stayed focused, won the next game, and then slammed some ‘Za Ranch as a team. To me, I learned how important it is to treat failures in life for an opportunity to succeed. I learned to never give in to failure but to embrace it for the new chance to thrive.
In fact, I am writing this and getting really excited for the conference tournament. I cannot wait to compete alongside my team. I cannot wait for my next opportunity to succeed.

I used to be scared about my elbow. I used to be scared of failing.

How can I be scared?

Win or lose, I do it alongside my brothers. We will always stick together.

Sports, man.
Go Beavers.

-Ken Haze

Graphic by Nic Gibson